Hero Complex
by drying
Summary: Harry falls in the trap. AGAIN. Spoilers for OotP.


Title: Hero Complex  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Genre: AWP - Angst without plot, a whole new genre.  
  
Pairing: No pairing. Harry, Hermione and Ron.  
  
Disclaimer: it's all JKR's.  
  
Spoilers: the whole series so far. OotP.  
  
x x x  
  
"Don't stop searching; it's not over," Harry let out a scream of anger when Ron let himself drop on the muddy floor. It was dark, it was raining and he was exhausted and hungry. Every inch of muscle hurt, but it didn't matter. Not until they found her. Ron stood up again, not bothering to mutter any kind of protest. He was thankful for Harry's reminder. As long as he had any strength left, they wouldn't give up.  
  
x x x  
  
"Harry, I really think this is a very bad idea," Hermione whispered when they entered the forest.  
  
Ron intervened, irritated. "If you're going to keep saying that, you might want to go back to the castle now."  
  
"Quiet!" Harry ordered them before they started with their usual bantering. It was certainly not the time or the place. The soil was slippery thanks to the rain that was falling down soft but persistently. The sound of the drops hitting the leaves and the bugs crawling up the trees was everything that could be heard once Hermione and Ron agreed to remain silent.  
  
"Lumos," Harry whispered and his friends moved closer to him since one light was all they could afford if they didn't want to be seen from afar.  
  
"Are you sure this is…" Ron started to ask, hoping Harry hadn't mistaken the road and wouldn't be heading towards the spiders.  
  
Harry never got to answer.  
  
In front of them, there was Lucius Malfoy. "Well, well… No, he obviously found the right path," Malfoy said looking at Ron. "Of course, Harry Potter never fails," he added with sarcasm. "Although you really should have listened to the mudblood," the Death Eater continued, pointing at Hermione, who was holding her wand up, just like Harry and Ron, ready to immobilize Malfoy.  
  
"Oh, please, put those down. Unless you really think there's a chance you might get out of here alive," Bellatrix Lestrange's voice startled them and soon they could see over a dozen Death Eaters coming out of their hiding.  
  
x x x  
  
He didn't know how they lost sight of Hermione when they were running away. They heard the scream and then nothing else; they turned back as fast as they could but she was nowhere to be seen.  
  
And here they were. Bodies drenched with cold rain, clothes full of mud, stomachs twitching and hearts in hand, calling her name at the top of their lungs, searching every hole and behind every bush to find her.  
  
"Hermione!" It was a scream full of desperation and anger.  
  
"Hermione!" Impotence and sorrow.  
  
"Hermione!" Sadness and mixed with hope. But as the minutes passed, hope started to vanish.  
  
"Hermione!" It was the sound of heartbreak.  
  
x x x   
  
She heard the screams, but there was nothing she could do to tell them where she was. She couldn't move, not even to send away the bugs that were crawling up her arms. "I'm right here," she thought. "Harry, Ron! In here. I'm alive." Her words were only loud and clear in her head.  
  
"Hermione!" She kept hearing them. Sometimes they'd seem far away, and moments later so close.  
  
"Hermione!" The sound of Harry's voice was interrupted by sobs.  
  
"Hermione!" Ron nearly didn't have any voice left.  
  
x x x  
  
"Expelling you won't be the solution," Dumbledore finished his reprimand letting him know that Harry was still a Hogwarts student, although Harry couldn't find comfort in the news. He didn't care anymore. It was the same feeling he got when Sirius died, the same feeling that he wished he'd never feel again.  
  
He hadn't listened to her and his hero complex had gotten in the way. It was hell to pay all over again and it was the worst kind of hell: the inner one. It's hard not to loathe everyone that's trying to be supportive when you can't even stand yourself.  
  
Ron wasn't doing much better. They hardly talked, but they knew they were feeling the same. Harry wondered if Ron blamed him for what happened.  
  
x x x  
  
It was nearly 2 am and they were the only ones in the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"I thought you'd be awake," Professor McGonagall entered the room with a sad smile on her face. "Highly inappropriate hours for this, but Mrs. Granger insisted."  
  
Hermione appeared behind McGonagall, escorted by Madam Pomfrey, who raised a finger and spoke seriously. "Do not keep her up. She wants to talk to you but she's promised to be brief. Please help her up to her room afterwards. You are allowed to and you'll encounter no problems for tonight." And with those words, both teachers helped Hermione to sit down and left.  
  
Harry and Ron stood in front of her, not knowing what to do or say. Hermione smiled at them and began. "I'm really going to be brief because I still get very tired." The smile that had been on the boys' faces since they saw her enter the room disappeared. She was still weak and they couldn't stop blaming themselves.  
  
"Thank you for finding me. Thank you for saving me," she whispered. Harry's heart clenched. He would have wanted her to scream at him, to punch him and to swear she'd never speak to him again. He didn't want a thank you for fixing something he had wronged in the first place.  
  
"Don't," she held her hand up to stop them from saying anything, as if she could tell what they were thinking. "Thank you for bringing me back here. It's all that matters," she smiled, but couldn't avoid the wince of pain when she shifted on the seat. They nodded, knowing she didn't want to hear about blame.  
  
"Anytime," Ron replied and Harry nodded.  
  
"Now, before you help me up…" she said hesitatingly before her pale cheeks blushed softly. "I really could use a hug." Of course, she got one. Because from that point on, they complied to every demand, even the ones that meant preparing for the N.E.W.T.s three months in advance.  
  
xTHE ENDx 


End file.
